The Umid Babek Operation Company (UBOC) is completing work on the reconstruction of the Umid-1 platform at the Umid gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
SOCAR (the operator of the Umid development project) said in a statement that these works have been carried out since 2019 as part of the project “Acceleration of production from the stationary offshore platform Umid-1.
The main goal of the project is to remove restrictions on the transport system of the Umid-1 platform and increase production by drilling new wells.
Taking into account the restrictions, 3 mcm of gas and 470 tons (3600 barrels) of condensate are produced daily at the field, which are delivered to the Dashgil onshore terminal. After the implementation of the project, the daily production volume from Umid-1 will reach 8.1 mcm of gas and 1200 tons (9000 barrels) of condensate, the State Oil Company notes.
According to SOCAR, the project includes the reconstruction of the platform itself, the construction of a 54-kilometer 20-inch underwater pipeline and its onshore section with a length of about 3.7 km, a gas pipeline from the Dashgil-2 terminal and construction at the Sangachal head installation point for connection to the SOCAR gas transmission system.
“Currently, the work carried out on the Umid-1 platform and on land is nearing completion. The laying of the underwater pipeline began in April of this year using the Israfil Huseynov pipelayer. The construction of the most complex section of the gas pipeline, 2.1 km long, located closer to land, has already been completed,” the information says.
The Umid field, located 75 km south of Baku, was discovered in 2010. Gas production from the field began in September 2012. This is the first field discovered by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan.
However, in January 2017, in order to develop the Umid field, as well as conduct exploration at the Babek structure (located not far east of Umid), SOCAR decided to sign a Risk Service Contract. The offshore company SOCAR Umid Oil and Gas Limited acted as a partner. Since 2010, SOCAR has estimated the reserves of the Umid field at 200 bcm of gas and 40 million tons of condensate, and has never adjusted the volume of reserves during the years of development. In addition, SOCAR geologists believe that the Babek structure has gas reserves in the amount of 400 bcm. Although no exploration well was drilled in this structure.
Caspian Barrel
